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I took my car for a wash today, they guy who was cleaning it scratched the front hood by aggressively bending the Mercedes emblem against the hood. Manager said he would reimburse me if I bring estimates for how much it will cost me to fix it.
Please advise what should I do and where should I go to fix it? What is the best approach? and best place? dealer? Where else? I am so angry and feel so sad
What kind of light touch up should I use? Why not getting a quote from Tint World for example and fix it if the "car wash shop" manager said they'd pay for it? He said get two estimates and they will reimburse me. I hate seeing it every morning, it just bothers me. If you can recommend a kit that I can use myself am okay with that.
I wouldn't be able to look at that every day either. Especially at the hands of someone who could easily not have made such a silly mistake. I'd find a Mercedes-approved body shop and get an estimate - it won't be cheap, the car wash better get ready... Maybe there is a spot repair that will pass the 5 foot test (hopefully as 1bad540 said, you can find a body shop to touch up and wet sand), otherwise, you are looking at a repaint of hood and blend into fenders.
So glad I have the patience and time to hand wash mine every few days myself at my house. I will never trust a valet to park my car (unless I have to let them park it at the NYC Marriott or something like that and there's no other option) or a car wash to clean my car. So sorry this happened to you. Yes, spend the MOST AMOUNT OF MONEY to get it fixed correctly by a premium paint shop or your Mercedes Dealer and get them to pay it. I'd call them for recommendations and tell them it must look absolutely PERFECT when it's done, not some spot fix that may not look perfect. Stuff happens, especially at car washes.
Do you guys recommend the "auto wash shop" specifically the new Tidal Wave Auto Spa? they have a conveyor built that runs your car through a washing tunnel with soft brushes and so on. The car manual recommends these types of car auto wash shops rather than the "laser" touchless auto machines as those use harsh chemicals and tough water pressure on paint.
They say that these new car wash tunnels are safe.
I don't have time to clean "hand wash" my car everyday by myself as i work in an office/research environment (8AM-5:30PM x 5days a week, and prefer to spend the evening with my wife/family) so I go to auto wash shop every 2 days. However, I do clean it maybe once a week or so by myself "hand wash" when I can. The car tunnel am referring to is just a tunnel and no one would drive my car or even toutch it from outside or inside. Once wash is finished they allow you to park in a shaded area with free access to vacuum and microfibers and stuff to detail it yourself. takes less than 3 min to finish plus maybe 10 min of me detailing it inside/outside. It's also 5 min away form where I live.
Do you guys recommend the "auto wash shop" specifically the new Tidal Wave Auto Spa? they have a conveyor built that runs your car through a washing tunnel with soft brushes and so on. The car manual recommends these types of car auto wash shops rather than the "laser" touchless auto machines as those use harsh chemicals and tough water pressure on paint.
They say that these new car wash tunnels are safe.
I don't have time to clean "hand wash" my car everyday by myself as i work in an office/research environment (head of R&D/engineering center 8AM-5:30PM x 5days a week, and prefer to spend the evening with my wife/family) so I go to auto wash shop every 2 days. However, I do clean it maybe once a week or so by myself "hand wash" when I can. The car tunnel am referring to is just a tunnel and no one would drive my car or even toutch it from outside or inside. Once wash is finished they allow you to park in a shaded area with free access to vacuum and microfibers and stuff to detail it yourself. takes less than 3 min to finish plus maybe 10 min of me detailing it inside/outside. It's also 5 min away form where I live.
Please advise.
If you don't have time to hand wash, yes, just go for it! You can only do what you can do... In the end, it's just a car. It will survive most anything we throw at it.
You will get all kinds of answers on taking your car through a automated car wash. I generally hand wash and wax my cars but my F250 pick up truck is over 7 feet tall and climbing up and down a ladder to wash the roof and leaning way over the hood on a smaller ladder is a huge pain so I take it through our local car wash touted as the longest car wash in the world. It does a great job and I have never had any micro scratches at all.
On the other hand you will have some proclaim that one time through a car wash ruins the paint and you might as well sell the car immediately. It’s your property and your choice.....
P.S.- For those of you that hand wash your own cars and have local water filled with calcium or magnesium that leaves spots on the paint if you do not dry the paint immediately might I recommend a commercial air blower to get 99% of the water off in just a minute. For years I used a electric leaf blower with so so results but last month plopped down a substantial amount of cash for a double turbine blower from The Chemical Guys. Wow, Like a mini hurricane I can blow dry my SL550 in about 90 seconds and then towel dry in a minute. No more water spots. Phone your local banker and then try one out! I bought the mega $399 model... https://www.chemicalguys.com/accesso...rs-and-dryers/
Last edited by Utopia Texas; Sep 16, 2019 at 09:46 AM.
You will get all kinds of answers on taking your car through a automated car wash. I generally hand wash and wax my cars but my F250 pick up truck is over 7 feet tall and climbing up and down a ladder to wash the roof and leaning way over the hood on a smaller ladder is a huge pain so I take it through our local car wash touted as the longest car wash in the world. It does a great job and I have never had any micro scratches at all.
On the other hand you will have some proclaim that one time through a car wash ruins the paint and you might as well sell the car immediately. It’s your property and your choice.....
Which car wash goes it this well? That is an awesome car wash! I wonder if I have one in my area that does it this well? (Gaithersburg/Rockville Maryland). I'd like to do more research on this since in the middle of the winter, it would be nice to have this option when I don't want to deal with it in freezing temps. I have to run a hose from inside my garage using warmer water that's not frozen but a great car wash would be much easier.
Nice! We definitely don't have one like that here. I used one just like it in Boise ID to clean my friend's Ford Escape and a week in Yellowstone and near Granite Peak MT (that we attempted again but failed, again due to ice conditions). It was the BEST CAR WASH with the free drying towels and free vacuum at the end for only $7! I couldn't believe it. You are lucky to have this place near you.
Nice! We definitely don't have one like that here. I used one just like it in Boise ID to clean my friend's Ford Escape and a week in Yellowstone and near Granite Peak MT (that we attempted again but failed, again due to ice conditions). It was the BEST CAR WASH with the free drying towels and free vacuum at the end for only $7! I couldn't believe it. You are lucky to have this place near you.
They also have over 100 gasoline pumps, DEF dispensers for diesel engines, non ethanol gasoline for smaller engines and tout the cleanest bathrooms on the planet. I swear you could eat lunch off their bathroom floors with no problems....they are monitored every 10 minutes.
Just as an update for everyone:
MercedesBenz/dealership wanted to do a simple touch up with a small brush or syringe to cover that area (they do it through a 3rd party company). I didn't like that approach as I know this will keep the depth of the scratch apparent. I found a body shop who only does work on high end cars and they seem to be very professional. They quoted me $400 to fix it, they are going to remove the emblem, sand only 2-3 inches around the embelum (including the scratch) and spray a paint "which I brought from Mercedes to match the exact color and paint type) there so that even if there is a difference in color depth, no one would even find it because of the symmetry around the diameter of the emblem anyway. Then they they are going to fade it out by running a clear quote over the entire hood. This way I'll keep the factory paint on the hood as is (being a better factory paint with all of these layers) and at the same time leave the paint job limited only to that area around the scratch. This will not add any claims history to my insurance nor add any history to my car. The car auto shop (I believe) are just going to reimburse me for whatever it costs by writing me a check and I'll just pay the body shop directly.
I will send updates and photos once everything is done!
There are companies that specialize in spot repairs like this using an airbrush. I have had two door dings done this way and the results are undetectable unless you are within inches and know where to look. The one that I've used in mt area goes by the name Renew-It, Auto scratch and dent repair. You might do a search in your area for someone like that. Good luck!
Mercedes does not sell paint. It s a big misconception. The shop uses their paint system to mix and match the color. Every color code has variances.
Biggest issue with chips is filling the chip. A good touch up guy will fill the chip and then apply the base/clear and wet sand. It is not 100% but then every time you spray a panel you have the possibility of more defects in the paint. Anybody will be able to detect if its been resprayed so Crafax isn't the issue it is the mills of paint.
I would let dealer try and have their guy touch up. What do you have to loose? Otherwise go ahead with repair after if not happy. It cant cost more than a $100.
The first imperfection sucks but it is a car so drive on!!
It's a deep scratch, it's really not the same size as rock chip (see the difference in size between the new scratched area to the left of the emblem and compare it to the old chip to the right of the emblem in the photo in my original post). So if I can get that area only (few inches around the emblem) re-spraid why not? That will be much better that tout up (which in my view works on small chips but not scratches). It's on the front hood, the most attractive and first thing I see everyday in the garage before I drive it!!!.
Last note, mercedes dealership did actually gave me a very small can of paint to do the work myself or at a 3rd party body shop (they do sell paint if you ask, they took my VIN number and paint code on the door, a guy emptied for me couple of smaller cans into a bigger can, they were so friendly and wanted to help me cause their touch up guy was out for 2 days). I am not sure if the body shop am referring them will use their paint or not though; he said they will try to spray both (theirs and mine) on a small hidden spot in the engine or behind the doors and see which one blends better before they use it on the hood). They promised to best they can, all cars in the ship were high end, lambo, Ferrari, Porsche and worst case I saw was an old Audi R8. I don't know am so confused now, seems like I got different kind of feedback and there is not a single solution that everyone recommended.
There is a company out of Florida called Dr. Color Chip. WWW.DRCOLORCHIP.COM. (no affiliation) I have used their product with good results. They provide advice on their website. I think it would be worth a try. If you are not satisfied you can always go the respray route. Their process is pretty simple. Good luck. Let us know how you make out.
@Utopia Texas I can't make decisions on the paint/re-spray issue, it all about experience, that's why I was asking for advise. Anyway since the R&D engineering thing might have bothered you - since you are picking on it - I deleted it from my info since it's not related and doesn't even matter :P
Thanks @pdeacon , this was very helpful, I was looking for something like this to try by myself quickly before I go to re-spray it and that why I posted this
The reason I hate metallic paint. If the paint were solid, a chip like that would be easy to blend seamlessly. If I were fixing that, I'd apply almost all clear coat. Dr Colorchip or Lanka don't do well with metallic paints.
@bkdc That's exactly what the body shop manager told me, for this paint they can fill it with paint for me but it will not look good and will always look darker. he suggested to spray just that area around the emblem and then a clear quote over the entire hood.
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